Return of the British wolf?

(Source: yellowstonewolf.com)

Since Britons first began clearing forests for settlement and agriculture five or six thousand years ago, many large native animals have been driven to extinction, including wild horses, aurochs (wild cattle), beavers (killed for food and/ or fur), wolves, bears and lynx (hunted because of their threat to game and livestock).

By the end of the nineteenth century, the European grey wolf (Canis lupus lupus) had been exterminated from most of central and northern Europe. According to legend, the last British wolf was killed in 1743 in Findhorn, Scotland, by a large man called MacQueen of Pall à Chrocain (more likely, the sole survivor died quietly in a cave somewhere, of starvation or unbearable loneliness).

For early European man, wolves were an ever present danger, and it is no surprise that in European folklore wolves were transformed into malicious or evil supernatural figures – for example, Fenrir of Norse mythology is a huge, monstrous wolf.

Studies of ecology in the twentieth century showed that top predators play a vital role in maintaining the balance and diversity of nature: that without them to control populations of deer and other herbivores, overgrazing results, preventing the growth of trees and plants, and adversely affecting many smaller animals dependent on those trees and plants for food or shelter.

Later, when biologists began to consider the possibility of introducing long-absent carnivore species back into the wild, their primary aim may have been to conserve those species, but they were mindful too of possible "knock-on" benefits, of "ecological chain reactions" that might help other plants and animals.

Earlier this year, in a National Geographic article entitled Wolf Wars, Douglas Chadwick reported one such chain reaction, triggered by the reintroduction (in 1995-6) of wolves into Yellowstone National Park in the U.S.:

"Shortly after killing the last Yellowstone wolves in 1926, park officials were culling elk by the thousands. The elk kept rebounding and overgrazing key habitats, creating a perpetually unnatural situation for a park intended to preserve nature.

"In the wolfless era, herds practically camped at favorite winter dining spots, foraging on young aspen, willow, and cottonwood until the stems grew clubbed and stunted like bonsai plants. Released from such grazing pressure, saplings now shoot up to form lush young groves. More songbirds find nesting habitat within their leafy shade. Along waterways, vigorous willow and cottonwood growth helps stabilize stream banks. More insects fall from overhanging stems to feed fish and amphibians. Beavers find enough nutritious twigs and branches to support new colonies."

A less anticipated side-effect of the Yellowstone reintroduction was a huge boost to tourism: it is estimated that the wolves have brought an additional $23 million a year into the local economy.

Successful experiments like these have encouraged plans elsewhere. In 1999, scientists at Aberdeen University proposed a trial reintroduction of grey wolves to the Scottish Highlands as a means of controlling the 350,000 red deer whose grazing habits have inhibited the growth of new plants and trees, including young trees in commercial forests. The proposal has been supported by research showing that wolf reintroduction would aid the re-establishment of many plant and bird species; moreover that people living in those areas are more receptive to the idea of wild wolves than had been thought.

Concerns have been voiced by farmers, fearing loss of livestock, but they have been reassured by the proven effectiveness of measures such as electric fencing, guard dogs and night-time enclosure of stock, as well as the likelihood of schemes of compensation for animals killed or injured.

Big carnivores such as bears and wolves evoke a primal fear in us. But such creatures rarely bother people, and when they attack livestock, it is usually because their natural prey have been depleted – by us.

The debate over wolf reintroduction in Scotland has been given a huge boost this year by a successful trial reintroduction of beavers to the Knapdale Forest in Mid-Argyll. The first beaver families were released in May last year and – to the delight of the organisers – this autumn several kits (beaver babies) arrived, the first to be born in the wild in Britain for five hundred years.

Like the beaver, the grey wolf has lived alongside us on these islands for tens of thousands of years, and I believe has as much right to a place here as we do. His impact on nature could be beneficial, but with his strength, endurance, independence and pack loyalty, he is also an important symbol and reminder of how we used to be.

References

Wolf Wars, Douglas Chadwick, National Geographic, March 2010.

Wolves and Humans, UK charity dedicated to the conservation of wolves in the wild.